Ray Python API Docs | dltHub
Build a Ray-to-database pipeline in Python using dlt with AI harness support for Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex.
Last updated:
Ray provides REST APIs on the head node for job submission, observability via the dashboard, and cluster management. The REST API base URL is http://127.0.0.1:8265/api and All requests require a Bearer token in the Authorization header when token authentication mode is enabled..
dlt is an open-source Python library that handles authentication, pagination, and schema evolution automatically. dlthub provides AI context files that enable code assistants to generate production-ready pipelines. Install with uv add "dlt[hub]" and start loading Ray data in under 10 minutes.
What data can I load from Ray?
Here are some of the endpoints you can load from Ray:
| Resource | Endpoint | Method | Data selector | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| jobs | /api/jobs/ | GET | List all Ray jobs | |
| jobs | /api/jobs/{job_id} | GET | Get specific Ray job status | |
| serve_applications | /api/serve/applications/ | GET | List all Serve applications | |
| state_actors | /api/v0/actors | GET | result | List cluster actors |
| state_jobs | /api/v0/jobs | GET | result | List cluster jobs (state API) |
| state_nodes | /api/v0/nodes | GET | result | List cluster nodes |
How do I authenticate with the Ray API?
Authentication is performed via the 'Authorization' header using the 'Bearer' scheme or the 'X-Ray-Authorization' header as a fallback. The token is a shared secret string configured in the Ray cluster.
1. Get your credentials
To retrieve the Ray authentication token for a local cluster, run the command ray get-auth-token in your terminal. If you need to generate a new token (e.g., when initializing a cluster), run ray get-auth-token --generate, which saves the token to ~/.ray/auth_token by default. If the dashboard is already running, you may be prompted to enter the token, which you can retrieve by running ray get-auth-token on your local machine. For automated environments, you can also set the RAY_AUTH_TOKEN environment variable. Note: Managed Ray services may use separate API keys for telemetry as documented on their specific platform.
2. Add them to .dlt/secrets.toml
[sources.ray_source] ray_auth_token = "your_token_value_here" # For telemetry-specific API keys (Managed Ray): ray_api_key = "your_api_key_here"
dlt reads this automatically at runtime — never hardcode tokens in your pipeline script. For production environments, see setting up credentials with dlt for environment variable and vault-based options.
How do I set up and run the pipeline?
Set up a virtual environment and install dlt:
uv init uv add "dlt[hub]"
1. Install the dlt AI harness:
uv run dlthub ai init --agent <your-agent> # <agent>: claude | cursor | codex
This installs project rules, a secrets management skill, appropriate ignore files, and configures the dlt MCP server for your agent. Learn more →
2. Install the rest-api-pipeline toolkit:
uv run dlthub ai toolkit install rest-api-pipeline
This loads the skills and context about dlt the agent uses to build the pipeline iteratively, efficiently, and safely. The agent uses MCP tools to inspect credentials — it never needs to read your secrets.toml directly. Learn more →
3. Start LLM-assisted coding:
Use /find-source to load data from the Ray API into DuckDB.
The rest-api-pipeline toolkit takes over from here — it reads relevant API documentation, presents you with options for which endpoints to load, and follows a structured workflow to scaffold, debug, and validate the pipeline step by step.
4. Run the pipeline:
uv run python ray_pipeline.py
If everything is configured correctly, you'll see output like this:
Pipeline ray_pipeline load step completed in 0.26 seconds 1 load package(s) were loaded to destination duckdb and into dataset ray_data The duckdb destination used duckdb:/ray.duckdb location to store data Load package 1749667187.541553 is LOADED and contains no failed jobs
Inspect your pipeline and data:
uv run dlthub show
This opens the Pipeline Dashboard where you can verify pipeline state, load metrics, schema (tables, columns, types), and query the loaded data directly.
Python pipeline example
This example loads /api/jobs/ and /api/serve/applications/ from the Ray API into DuckDB. It mirrors the endpoint and data selector configuration from the table above:
import dlt from dlt.sources.rest_api import RESTAPIConfig, rest_api_resources @dlt.source def ray_source(api_token=dlt.secrets.value): config: RESTAPIConfig = { "client": { "base_url": "http://127.0.0.1:8265/api", "auth": {"type": "bearer", "token": api_token}, }, "resources": [ {"name": "jobs", "endpoint": {"path": "api/jobs/"}}, {"name": "state_actors", "endpoint": {"path": "api/v0/actors", "data_selector": "result"}} ], } yield from rest_api_resources(config) def get_data() -> None: pipeline = dlt.pipeline( pipeline_name="ray_pipeline", destination="duckdb", dataset_name="ray_data", ) load_info = pipeline.run(ray_source()) print(load_info)
To add more endpoints, append entries from the resource table to the "resources" list using the same name, path, and data_selector pattern.
How do I query the loaded data?
Once the pipeline runs, dlt creates one table per resource. You can query with Python or SQL.
Python (pandas DataFrame):
import dlt data = dlt.pipeline("ray_pipeline").dataset() sessions_df = data.state_actors.df() print(sessions_df.head())
SQL (DuckDB example):
SELECT * FROM ray_data.state_actors LIMIT 10;
In a marimo or Jupyter notebook:
import dlt data = dlt.pipeline("ray_pipeline").dataset() data.state_actors.df().head()
See how to explore your data in marimo Notebooks and how to query your data in Python with dataset.
What destinations can I load Ray data to?
dlt supports loading into any of these destinations — only the destination parameter changes:
| Destination | Example value |
|---|---|
| DuckDB (local, default) | "duckdb" |
| PostgreSQL | "postgres" |
| BigQuery | "bigquery" |
| Snowflake | "snowflake" |
| Redshift | "redshift" |
| Databricks | "databricks" |
| Filesystem (S3, GCS, Azure) | "filesystem" |
Change the destination in dlt.pipeline(destination="snowflake") and add credentials in .dlt/secrets.toml. See the full destinations list.
Next steps
Continue your data engineering journey with the other toolkits of the dltHub AI harness:
data-exploration— Build custom notebooks, charts, and dashboards for deeper analysis with marimo notebooks.dlthub-platform— Deploy, schedule, and monitor your pipeline in production.
uv run dlthub ai toolkit install data-exploration uv run dlthub ai toolkit install dlthub-platform
Was this page helpful?
Community Hub
Need more dlt context for Ray?
Request dlt skills, commands, AGENT.md files, and AI-native context.